PS: Are there stories right now that you're particularly excited to tell?
RW: There are so many stories to tell. I think we haven't seen enough of the spectrum of the female experience on film, so we're still yearning for the truth of those stories. I feel really enormously honoured to be able to make some of them and bring them to the screen.
"I'm so inspired by young women these days. They hold so many different ideologies in one place — that you don't have to be exclusively academic or cerebral, or exclusively interested in fashion and beauty. There's a great spectrum of interests women can hold all at once."
PS: You've been a pivotal voice in Time's Up and just elevating women's voices in general. You've also pushed that work forward with Elizabeth Arden with efforts like "Pink Punch" lipstick, which benefited UN Women. These efforts seem like a cool, subversive way to say: "Hey, women can be interested in lipstick and also care about gender equality." Is that something that struck you?
RW: Yeah. I'm so inspired by young women these days. They hold so many different ideologies in one place — that you don't have to be exclusively academic or cerebral, or exclusively interested in fashion and beauty. There's a great spectrum of interests women can hold all at once. It's a great time to be a woman. I think we're standing together more than we ever have. There's a global solidarity that I really feel [when] I travel the world, or even just go on Instagram. I feel so much more connected.
PS: Is there a character you've played whose beauty look was your favourite of all time? Is there one you just loved, even if it was a radical departure from your everyday look?
RW: I'm looking back at old performances and hairstyles, because I'm about to do a show set in the '90s (Little Fires Everywhere). I've been doing a lot of research on what I looked like and what women looked like back then, because I have teenagers in the show dressing like my characters from movies like Cruel Intentions. I love Elle Woods. I just think it was such a privilege to get to play a character that was so optimistic, and it's been such an inspiration. She's inspired me, as well, to believe in myself.